This is magnificent, and I don’t often say that ‘cos… well, ‘cos of me
Well, the fireworks were pretty spectacular. Though I’m not sure they were worth the hassle…
After going to the gym (boo-yah), I grabbed a sandwich and caught a bus to New Brighton. It was packed with pre-teens (including one runaway that the police hauled off before we started) and it took us about 45 minutes to get out there, with our driver going at break-neck speeds (and subsequently stalling the bus twice). I found a spot on a bench on the beach pretty close to the pier (which was all lit up). Sat there for about half an hour being cold (and it was spitting rain) until the fireworks started. The fireworks were really spectacular. Maybe it was the fact that I was really close to where they were going off and the wind was blowing towards us, but there were some absolutely HUGE ones going off right above us. By the end, it was as if the sky were exploding.
After the show, I tried to find the special buses to go back into town. Well, I walked the wrong way, asked for directions, walked the wrong way some more, asked for directions, walked more and finally found the buses, where there were absolute stampedes to get on. Seriously – I can’t remember ever being in such a crush of people. The bus I got on was headed to the city exchange and Hoyts cinema – which was perfect because there wouldn’t be much of a walk from the cinema. Well, after about 45 minutes, the driver yells cinema, and I get off only to find we are no where CLOSE to the city, I’ve gotten off at the wrong damn stop at 10:25 at night and it is bucketing rain. (Is it true that fireworks can kick start showers?) So I walk for a ways in the rain, and eventually manage to catch another bus which takes me into the city where I catch a bus towards home (with one minute to spare – thank god, or else I would have had another ½ hour in the rain) and I eventually make it home a full 2 hours after the fireworks ended and an hour after I should have been in bed. Good lord.
Luckily, one of my co-workers has said he’ll drop off Monday’s Heroes for me since I braved the weather. (Oh – also – there was supposed to be music for the show, but you had to bring a radio to the beach to tune in and hear it, so that didn’t happen. Still – I was so close, I probably wouldn’t have heard it over the sonic booms).
Today has been really good so far. I started the next Cadfael book (seeing Derek Jacobi on Doctor Who the other night made me want to read another one), work is progressing well, I finally got to talk with Kristl and I heard from Alison, which is always tres exciting. The weather is crap, but oh well. I’m buying lunch today, getting new DVDs, skipping the gym, and I’ll be able to catch up on some chores at home and go to bed really, really, really early. I’m still working on getting my serial number for my phone, so the police will give it to me (oh – did I say? It was my phone and mini-binoculars that were recovered. I didn’t replace the binoculars, so getting them back would be lovely. Plus I’d really like to hang on to my Siemens phone for any future international travel. I like it much better than the Vodafone I had to replace it with in Oz. I guess it gives me hope, too, that maybe more of my stuff could turn up (memory card? Photos?), although that’s doubtful. Still – better these than nothing!)
Lots and lots of goodies to follow
The latest strike updates. Em – you should totally go down to 30 Rock and say hi to John Oliver!!
I love this (from the NY Times); “At NBC’s main campus in Burbank, one writer, who declined to give his name, said it was not easy picketing with people who churn out comedies for a living.“Stop making me laugh,” the writer told his buddy. “It doesn’t look good to people who drive up. They will think we’re not serious.” “
How will you cope with the strike? (I love this, “Plus, watching British folks on TV automatically makes you smarter.”) I also love that people have contingency plans of DVDs to rent when their shows stop airing. So – what would I do in the spring? Probably BBC shows (Jekyll, Blackpool, I could watch season 1 of Doctor Who and any Blackadders I’ve missed, maybe Torchwood?), the Wire, Freaks and Geeks, maybe Battlestar Galactica (I hear really good things about it – but there is a bit of my brain that’s resisting; “too geeky! Too geeky!”), Planet Earth, Rescue Me, Big Love, Weeds, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, catch up on Dexter (Heroes, the Office, House, CSI and the rest of this fall’s tv). Plus there’ll be a Jericho mini season in the spring, which would actually benefit from less competition… I could finish up Six Feet Under… I’m sure I’ll find plenty to amuse me in the realm of tv.
The LA Times list of where things stand is kinda interesting. They don’t actually have a bunch of the shows that I’m interested in, though.
*sniffles* I did not do quite as well this week in the box office game (I was way off on Martian Child (stupid reviews not coming in before I make my picks!) and the Game Plan (seriously – who is still going to see that?)). So – for the weekend, I scored 163 out of 1724, BUT!!! For the entire fall, I’ve edged my way up to 55th out of 1724. (I was 59th last week) (That’s the top 3.2% thankyouverymuch.)
Attention heroes: Colbert drops presidential bid; Colbert Vows to Fight On, Once He’s Done Crying.
Death Valley rocks. So I know they’ve theorized about the water thing forever, but why exactly has no one ever seen it?
A run down of the major holiday releases
Early Oscar contenders gallery I’m not sure I think much of their picks. No Brad Pitt for Jesse James? He won best actor in Venice! No Christian Bale for Rescue Dawn? Surely you jest. Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth? No way in hell.
Did you know that it is a mere 67 days till the Golden Globes? All together now, “It’s the most wonderful time…” Oh right, and I recommend goldderby for all the buzz (and fun Oscar trivia quizzes!). I like this post: the types that win supporting actor Oscars.
The NY Times has a holiday movie special section: The little gold man made me do it, Rivers of blood, Breakthroughs, More on Sweeny Todd
Sherwood in trouble. Hey! I’ve been there!
I like Krugman’s column on democratic wealth
Hayden Christensen producing the Beast of Bataan
Top 7 screenplays of the decade
Linkspam from Cleolinda:
Creature ID’d as coyote, not chupacabra. But did it have mange?
Dawn French talks to Daniel Radcliffe about his “lovely wand.”
[Ed: I’m posting this for the brilliant headline:] Meryl Streep Wins Preemptive Oscar as Julia Child
‘Jumper’ Poster Features Exotic/Dull Cocktail. [Ed: awww… poor Hayden Christensen, he’s never going to catch a break]
trailer_spot: Pride and Glory, There Will Be Blood, National Treasure 2, Kung Fu Panda, Cassandra’s Dream, Alvin and Why Hast Our God Forsaken Us? the Chipmunks;
Jon Stewart Reportedly Offering Two-Week Strike Fund To His Picketing Staff;
Tim Kring has left Heroes over the strike? “Apparently the network was making him remove storylines that could not be wrapped up in the existing episodes that are now being finished. This caused wholesale rewrites of three episodes over the past week and weekend. And on the lot where ‘Heroes’ shoots, there was an incident at the picket line where a PA working on another show ran over the foot of one of the picketers [this one?].”
[Ed: WAIT – WHAT??? He just said that episodes 7-11 were the best things he’s done and that that wrapped up the volume 2 storyline? This has to be false. Hmm… after poking around on some message boards, it sounds like maybe the studio wanted him to rewrite 11-14 because scripts 12-14 had been delivered and they’d rather have 14 episodes than 11. That’s stupid. If the story arc wraps up by 11, the fans would rather have that end well and wait months for volume 3. (I mean – look at Lost. The season finale was in – what – May? And the next season won’t start till February. Dedicated fans will wait months and months so long as the resulting product was worth the wait.)]Also, dduane points out that media outlets may not be the most reliable sources for news on the writers striking against them. [Ed: although I have to say that the reporting has seemed pretty unbiased so far. Most of the articles come down on the writer’s side (well, most come down on the general public’s side, hoping for a swift end.)]
[Ed: although I have to say that the reporting has seemed pretty unbiased so far. Most of the articles come down on the writer’s side (well, most come down on the general public’s side, hoping for a swift end.)]
Neil Gaiman shuffles along on the Beowulf junket. “I think my favourite bit was the way Ray Winstone, answering questions, always refers to me and Roger Avary as ‘The Boys,’ as if we’re a couple of writing hardcases who will come over to your house and beat you up with our typewriters.” Hopkins, meanwhile, “is always one room behind,” and Angelina Jolie handles personal questions from reporters “with grace and aplomb.”
Tags: Travel
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